UK unemployment falls below 2 million

Wednesday 22 October 2014 - Editorial Assistant

For the fist time in six years, unemployment levels have fallen below 2 million. The number of unemployed people fell to 1.97 million between June and August.

This is the fist time unemployment levels have been below the 2 million mark since the global financial system was under threat in 2008. The jobless rate increased a lot faster then expected.

The unemployment rate amongst 16 to 24 year-olds has fallen from 21.3% to 16%.

There are concerns that even though the quantity has increased, the pay and quality have possibility decreased.

Fortunately, the Christmas period always promises to bring in more jobs as retailers employ temporary staff to deal with the increase in customers over winter.

Across the UK, around 19,000 temporary job vacancies have been created by postal giant Royal Mail. Due to the ever growing number of online shoppers, delivery services have had to increase their amount of staff in order to prevent letting customers down. The vacancies available will mostly involve sorting trough large numbers of parcels and some jobs will be in delivery. Unfortunately, all the jobs on offer are temporary with no possibility of the position becoming permanent.

Amazon also has plans to employ around 13,000 extra staff over the hectic holiday period. New employees will work in its eight distribution and customer service centres. Amazon is also looking for 1,000 permanent employees. This comes after the online retailer confirmed they are planning to launch a same day pick up service. On Amazon’s busiest day last year, they received orders for 4.1 million items.These additional employees will not only boost employment levels but also reassure customers that Amazon and the Royal Mail are doing all they can to make sure they are prepared for upcoming Christmas deliveries.